[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5040-5041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     SUPREME COURT CONSIDERS PLEDGE

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, today the Supreme Court will hear arguments 
on whether children should be allowed to say the words ``under God'' in 
the Pledge of Allegiance.
  In 2002, the 9th Circuit ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance is 
unconstitutional. The question raised was whether the Pledge forces an 
establishment of religion on the American people. Ninety percent of the 
American public answers this question ``no.'' Yet it never ceases to 
amaze me that the radical activist minority in this country can use the 
courts and the first amendment on the one hand to permit targeting of 
children with pornography; and on the other hand they manipulate

[[Page 5041]]

it to ban any reference to faith, God, or religion in public life.
  There is no way around it. That is an extremist agenda contrary to 
the letter and spirit of the Constitution, and it is contrary to the 
will of the people. The fact that this case even made it so far in the 
courts is a travesty. Our Founders believed, as the American people do, 
that there is an acceptable beneficial role for public faith and 
private convictions in the public life of this country. Those who say 
otherwise are mistaken.

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